The Consorzi Vicinali are common property organisations (CPOs) located in a mountain area of Friuli Venezia Giulia region, in North East Italy. These CPOs have a long history of mutual assistance and collective use and management of local resources, thus contributing to a balanced development of the local community and territory. This research is aimed at investigating whether these historical CPOs still have a relevant role to play in the development of local rural areas, and how they deal with the present needs and opportunities of these areas. Specifically, the robustness and viability of these organisations were analysed. The survey revealed some strengths and weaknesses of the Consorzi Vicinali. According to Ostrom's design principles, the robustness is quite high. Nevertheless, this ability to maintain some desired characteristics despite internal and external fluctuations does not always match with a high viability, in terms of natural resource management, internal participation, creation of job opportunities especially for young people, and capacity to attract financial support. In fact, some Consorzi still act effectively in terms of the collective stewardship of rural resources. Whereas, others have the potential to adapt to new challenges and emerging needs, due to the deep rootedness and the sense of belonging of the local community to its territory. These are the strengths of all the Consorzi. The robustness and viability analyses used in a complementary way have been effective here in giving a more comprehensive description of CPOs and their (potential) role in rural development.

To protect and promote the originality and authenticity of mountain foodstuffs, the European Union set Regulation No 1151/2012 to create the optional quality term “mountain product”. Our research aimed at exploring the attractiveness of the mountain product label for consumers, considering both attitude towards the label itself and purchase intentions. We propose a model to investigate relationships between four latent constructs — mountain attractiveness, mountain food attractiveness, attitude towards the mountain product label, and purchase intention — which have been tested, thus confirming the statistical relevance of the relationships. All 47 items selected for describing the latent constructs are suitable for this purpose. Ridge and LASSO results also show that 17 items of the first three constructs are relevant in explaining purchase intentions. Some contextual variables, such as age, income, geographical origin of consumers, and knowledge of mountain products and mountains for tourism purposes, can positively influence consumers’ behavior. These findings could support the design of mountain development strategies, in particular marketing actions for both the product and the territory.

Agricultural and Food Economics is a peer-reviewed open access journal published under the brand SpringerOpen. Agricultural and Food Economics (AFE) is an international peer-reviewed and open access journal published on behalf of the Italian Association of Agricultural Economics. AFE welcomes research articles from economists, scholars and researchers from all over the world to publish problem-oriented and high quality articles. AFE publishes only original articles from a wide variety of economic perspectives that address current and relevant issues related to the agricultural and food system. AFE publishes articles focused on applied analysis, the discussion of innovative results, and relevant policy and managerial implications. AFE seeks clearly written articles from experts in the field, to promote insightful understanding of the current trends in the agri-food system. Topics of specific interest to AFE include agricultural and food market analysis, agri-food firm management and marketing, organization of the agri-food chains, consumer behavior, food quality and safety issues, economics of nutrition and food security, food and health economics, agri-food policy and trade, sustainable rural development, natural and marine resource economics, land economics.

Since the 19th century, Italy’s mountain regions have suffered from depopulation and land abandonment. How can we counter this phenomenon? Here, we present three cases of innovative and participatory approaches implemented in the Eastern Alps of Friuli Venezia Giulia. Forest therapy is a new approach to medical therapy based on the beneficial effects on the human health of frequenting forests. It also has the potential to provide space for local economic initiatives, e.g., hospitality services. Land consolidation associations were created in France to collectively restore the productivity of fragmented and abandoned farmland. They can evolve into long-term planning for the conservation of landed wealth and the valorization of territories. Finally, Mountaineering villages have the potential to develop a more sustainable form of tourism by fostering a sense of responsibility for the natural and cultural heritage of the European Alps, in accordance with the Alpine Convention. These initiatives share the involvement of local actors in the definition of local development strategies, the capability of enhancing endogenous resources and increasing the environmental value of places, the importance of offering qualified and organized services, and the ability to support the local socioeconomic system. The adoption of innovative and participatory approaches such as these has the potential to revert depopulation and economic depression trends in mountain areas.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations supports the production of edible insects as a promising and sustainable source of nutrients to meet the increasing demand for animal-derived products by the growing world population. Even if insects are part of the diet of more than two billion people worldwide, the practice of eating insects (entomophagy) raises challenging questions for Western countries where this is not a habit. The research applied the Rasch models and showed that, in the case of hunger or need, 70.8% of the sample declared that they would be willing to eat insects. The willingness to habitually consume and pay for insect food is very low, but the percentages are higher than people who had actually had insect tasting experiences. This demonstrates that a communication process is necessary that aims to overcome psychological/cultural barriers. Only in this way will it be possible to increase the propensity to consume insects.